1979 straddles an interesting time in music. Disco was on the wane, rock was chasing its tail, and new wave was peeking around the corner.Sadly, this playlist eschews these genres and explores the 12 volume audio series, where Vincent Price teaches you how to cook. Just kidding…I went the rock/disco/new wave route.

Chic were one of the big hits of Glastonbury 2013 - and their set comprised a medley of hits featuring tracks by the likes of David Bowie and Madonna alongside their biggest hits. Enjoy them all in this week's gig of the week update!

Today marks the 62nd birthday of a gentleman who’s brought us many good times.

Oh, sorry, have we already used that joke? Wait, hang on, how about this? One of the founding member of Chic turns 62 today, so…everybody dance!

Nah, the “Good Times” reference is still funnier.

Born in 1952 in New York City, Nile Gregory Rodgers started his musical career as a session guitarist, touring with the Sesame Street band (yes, really), and serving as part of the Apollo Theater’s house band, where he played with a number of R&B legends, including Aretha Franklin, Ben E. King, and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, among many others. But just as Sesame Street changed the lives of so many of us over the years, it changed Rodgers’ life as well, albeit in a slightly different way than most: that band is where – in 1970 – he first crossed paths with bassist Bernard Edwards.

Looking back, it’s apparent that the summer was always the best season for the band known as Chic: a few weeks ago, we celebrated the anniversary of the band’s 1979 album, Risqué, which featured one of their signature songs (“Good Times”), and now we’re celebrating the release of the album which preceded it, which also featured one of their signature songs. In fact, if you had to pick a single signature song for Chic, your best bet would undoubtedly be “Le Freak,” which unabashedly promotes the band’s name and the title of the album from which the song originates – C’est Chic – while also effectively summing up the entire disco movement in less than five minutes and 30 seconds:

35 years ago today, Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, and Tony Thompson, along with singers Alfa Anderson and Luci Martin, released an album which kicked off with one of the greatest grooves of Chic’s career while promising – and absolutely delivering – “Good Times.”

1979 was a busy year for Edwards and Rogers – that’s also when they wrote and produced Sister Sledge’s We Are Family album – but when you’re capable of writing songs as strong as those that seemed to pop out of their pens every time they turned around, why not keep busy? Risqué was Chic’s third album, and while it only provided them with one top-40 hit (“My Forbidden Lover” just missed the cut at #43, but “My Feet Keep Dancing” wasn’t even close, stalling out at #101), it’s hard to complain too vociferously when that one hit tops the pop charts, the R&B charts, and the dance charts, not to mention the fact that a sample from the song resulted in the greatest success the Sugarhill Gang ever had (“Rapper’s Delight”).

For as wonderful an earworm as the imminently danceable 2013 single “Get Lucky” may have been, arguably the best thing about the song was the fact that it helped introduce a new generation of music fans to the genius of Nile Rodgers. Kids, you remember the gentleman in the white suit and purple hat who was standing next to Pharrell and shredding his way through Daft Punk’s Grammy performance? That guy is a legend, and it’s about time you learned more about him than the fact that he can tear it up on guitar...although that’s certainly not a bad place to start.

Born in New York City on September 19, 1952, Nile Gregory Rodgers got his start the same place a lot of us did: from Sesame Street. In Rodgers’ case, though, it was as a guitarist for the show’s touring band, led by noted songwriter Joe Raposo, the man behind “Bein’ Green” and “C Is for Cookie,” among other classics. From there, Rodgers played in the house band of the Apollo Theater, a stint which provided him with the opportunity to back up more than a few R&B legends, but it was his friendship with bassist Bernard Edwards, who he met in 1970, that put both gentlemen on the road to musical success and superstardom.

Thirty years ago, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was launched “to recognize the contributions of those who have had a significant impact on the evolution, development and perpetuation of rock and roll.” Beginning in 1986 with an inaugural class including such greats as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Ray Charles and the Everly Brothers, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has enshrined select groups of performers, sidemen, songwriters, producers and industry heavyweights every year.

Artists become eligible 25 years after the release of their first record. The Hall of Fame's nominating committee seeks inductees of unquestionable musical excellence, based on such criteria as the influence their work has had on other artists, longevity and depth of their catalog, musical innovation and superiority of craftsmanship. Nominees are then put to a vote; ballots are sent to more than 600 artists, historians and music business leaders around the world. Performers who receive the most votes (and been named on at least half of the ballots) are inducted into the Hall – typically between five and seven artists per year.

Who will you vote to induct into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year? We're placing our bids for Rhino artists like The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Chic, Deep Purple, The Meters, The Replacements, Linda Ronstadt, and Yes.